Monday, December 26, 2011

December 26th 2011Boy was it good talking to ya'll. Everyone has grown up so much! Everyone consists of Braden, Porter and Ellie. They all have personalities now. Jeff is still himself. Candice looked good, has she lost weight? It was good to hear from David. Jamie and Jackie haven't changed a bit. Hayley is exactly the same. Braden and Porter have both grown a foot or more. Luckily too because they were so short. Don't worry though; I will be able to whoop both of them forever. Ellie is a lot taller too! And she has teeth, I think... Mom seems like she is doing good. She is the only one that emails me consistently so I know about her life a lot already. I have two questions now... How did Dad lose so much weight? And how has he kept it off?! He's just a little guy now. I bet I could still out run him though. And if I can't he will pay for beating me because he is an old man now. But that’s great. I promise I will not weigh more than him when I come home! So Dad is it on or is it Donkey Kong? This week was very good. I almost got sick but I am smart and I talked to the guy at rite aid and he told me to get what I already knew to get. So I didn't get sick. Monday night was good. We went and visited with the Justin and Shana. There was no man in their home and we didn't have a male chaperone with us so we only talked for a minute. Then we went and visited a Part Member Family the ward wanted us to see. Their name is Whitesel. They were nice and we had a good lesson with them but they are not going to start coming to church and the dad isn't going to get baptized. Or that’s what they said. I'm sure a lot of people think that the first time we meet them. We went home after that. Tuesday we had a Leadership training meeting. It was a training meeting for all the Zone and District leaders and the Trainers. It was really good. President and Sister Lewis, along with the assistants trained us on Revelation through Prayer and how to help our investigators pray. They had asked Elder Jones and me to do training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon and the importance of it in our investigators conversion. I thought we did pretty well. We used the talk by Tad R. Callister from this past conference a lot. It was fun though. After the meeting got out at like 4:30 we went to dinner with an old lady named Sister Huckaby. She is probably one of the coolest older people. She had an older gentleman friend there. Their spouses both passed away a while ago so they are like friends with benefits but neither of them wants to get remarried. The man is from Indiana so that was a good conversation starter. They are movie buddies and go to movies every Friday. Since they are old they can afford the reduced price. I thought they probably only saw lame old people movies but when I asked what was a good one they saw recently she responded with, "Oh that new Sherlock Holmes was amazing. It was just as good as or better than the first. That Robert Downy Jr. and Jude Law sure do work well together in those movies". It was pretty funny. They also like to go to plays and musicals. They have seen all the big ones five or more times and love them. She used to live in Arizona and said one time she drove down to Tucson to watch a NCAA Tournament that UofA was hosting. She said she watched four games in row then got in the car to drive to Phoenix to watch the Suns play. She is a super cool old lady. And she cooked amazing Mexican food. It is people like her that make it hard for me to come down from 270. After dinner, btw I think that was the longest dinner I’ve written about, we went and visited people but it wasn't according to what we planned so I don't remember who we saw but I have written in my numbers that we taught someone with a member with us so I’m sure it was really good. Wednesday was good as well. In fact it rocked! We had District meeting in the morning. We had good training from each of the District leaders, then Elder Jones and I had everyone go up and talk about an investigator they have that can be baptized this month. We are so freaking close to our goal!!! After District meeting we had lunch, then we went and saw a bunch of people. We visited with a lady named Jennifer. She is the one who came to church and hit it off with our Relief Society President. She was doing well. She is in a custody battle with her Ex- Husband for their kids. She doesn't have them and we were hoping to see her daughter there but she was not... It’s a huge mess but I don't even know what’s going on so I don't know. But we had a good chat with her. We saw some people then got a bite to eat. We went to the church to start filling the font because Justin and Shana were getting baptized!!! It was Shana's birthday so that's why it was on a random day of the week. It was a super good baptism and we had a good time. Again I had to play the piano cuz we forgot to call the guy so we made do. I am getting better though and I have officially learned a new song so now I have four in my reservoir. After the baptism the night was kind of dead but we tried to see some people then went home. Thursday was a day... Not bad but not super good either. It was just a day. In the morning we went tracting then visited with Michael and Mercy Slover. We have a lot of recent converts now so that number has gone up each week. We went from there to see Ian and Janet; they got baptized earlier this year. Ian got baptized my first weekend in this area. His mom got baptized before that. We had lunch after them then we went and saw some more people. We went tracting for a bit and that was good. We tried to see some people but not too many were home. We had dinner alone... the family went to watch Boise State play football. We went over and visited with Roberta and Serenity and it was good. They are doing awesome and seem so happy since we first started meeting with them. We were able to teach Megan Hall that night and it was awesome. She is one of our "hot" investigators. She’s the Asian one getting ready for January 12th. Friday morning we did weekly planning and it was good. We had an awesome Church Tour with Jennifer, Sister Treadway and her son and his girlfriend. The church tour was freaking awesome though. Sister Treadway is a chief Champ. Later we went to see some people. We went tracting and that was fun. We had dinner at home because the people are less active and never called us back! It was OK though because we had to leave early to drive up to the mission office to be early to get our PRESENTS! President Lewis did a little program and it was awesome. I can't even count the amount of times I heard Luke 2:1-16. But it was a good meeting. Then we rushed home to open our presents. There is no incentive as a missionary to wait till Christmas so we just opened them right there. It was really nice of you to not only think about me but to think about my companion as well. I think he appreciated that. I love everything! I got a lot socks for Christmas which I love. I got some from you, a pair from President Lewis, and some from our Bishop. Saturday we were super excited for Christmas so it was hard to concentrate on the day. We went tracting all morning. We are really trying to find people to teach. We usually don't find them Tracting but we have noticed that when we go tracting God will bless us with someone to teach one way or another. That's what happened with Roberta and Serenity as well as Michael and Mercy. Actually now that I think about it most of the people we baptize just come from nowhere. We went and visited a lot of people in the afternoon. We had a great lesson with a part member family who said they would be at church but they didn't come. We went over to The Bland's home. Brother Bland is the man playing Santa in my Christmas Card. He invited us over to be with his family on Christmas Eve. They don't have much family around here so they wanted to have us as company. I tend to think we are pretty good company so it worked out. We were there for a freaking long time! But the food was awesome. He did a giant roast and it tasted real good. We had a delicious salad and some other food that must not be too good because I can't remember what it was but it filled me up to the brim! He's another reason I’m fat. Then they gave us some delicious Cheese Cake. It sure was tasty. Then we met up with the zone but not many of the zone was here so with the few that were here we played basketball. Christmas sure was a mighty fine day. We went over to our Bishops house at 8 to eat biscuits and gravy. By the look on Jackie's face when I mentioned them it seemed like she doesn't care too much for them but I sure did like them. We went to church and it was awesome. All the musical numbers sucked until Elder Jones sang. He rocked the house down. Someone said he sounded like John Mayer and someone else said he sounded like Justin Timberlake and then one lady, who was married, said it was hot that he could sing that good. Inappropriate. After church we went home, did something actually nothing, and then went over to Roberts for an afternoon of fun. I got to play with his Ipad and I decided I want one now. I can't believe Braden got and Iphone before me... Then we went over to Brother Lopez house to SKYPE OUR FAMILIES!!! We made our Skype accounts on the Ipad at Roberts so we could start right away. It was a lot of fun. I already commented on the family so yeah that's about it for the Skypeing. After that we went back to Roberts for dinner. It was a great dinner I must say. They had all my favorites and it was a good time. After dinner it was story time. I have mentioned before in my mission that I have a lot of ideas for books to write. Well I have written all of them down and I have like 10. Sandra, Roberts wife, didn't believe that I like love stories or that I would consider writing one so I told her my favorite one. I like it. They wanted more so I told another one. I don't know how I think of these things. They just pop into my mind randomly. But only while I’m doing breathing treatments. Maybe the new supply of oxygen reaching my brain gives me an extra sense or something. I don't know. After that we were supposed to meet with the zone to have our Sunday night meeting and to go over numbers for the week but everyone was griping because it was Christmas and they were with ward members so we moved the meeting back to Monday morning. So Elder Jones and I had about 2 hours to kill and we didn't want to bother any members that weren't planning on us coming over and we were allowed to proselytize so we came to the church and wrote our weekly emails to our families, hence the length of this weeks email. It has to be one of my longer ones. So that was my week this week. It truly was a great time talking to all of you today. I am surprised that no one mentioned that the next time I will be calling home will be the Sunday before I come home. That's crazy. So Elder Jones and I talk a lot. We used to just tell stories and talk about random crap but now we talk about our missions and the gospel and stuff. We were talking about what has changed with us since we left. After being out like a year I honestly didn't see any change in me. But now, only 7 months later I have seen a huge change. I feel like ever since I became a zone leader I have become so much more mature and down to business. I feel like I have really learned my purpose as a missionary and how to work hard and effectively. I used to go the whole week anticipating P Day so I didn't have to do anything all day but now I don't even think about it until Sunday night when I realize, oh hey we have P Day tomorrow. It’s great. Well that’s about it. I hope you enjoy this week’s letter. You got a double feature treat this week with a phone call and a huge long email. I hope everyone has a good life for the next little while. To those who wrote to me, I will respond soon. To those who didn't, you have no promise... I love you! So I waited a little while to send this off so I could update you on anything new. I do have a few new updates so here we go. First, the zone has picked up two more people to be baptized this month so we only need 1 more to break the record! We would be tying it with what we have right now. Second, we played football today and we won! Another zone came over and we had some good teams. It was a good intense game and now I'm pooped. Last was this cool Miracle that President Lewis shared with us on this week’s weekly email he sends us. Before I tell it to you I am going to let you know that right before Elder Manukailea left, he told me he was going to convert somebody on the plane ride home. Read on... "During his flight home he sat next to a lady named Sarah who lives in New York but was on her way to visit her family in Long Beach. Elder Manukailea talked to her about the gospel, challenged her to be baptized and got her parents’ address and promised to send missionaries to follow up with her. He called the local mission and they sent missionaries to Sarah’s home. Elder Manukailea called to say Sarah was baptized on Christmas Eve!" The man is a machine! He will never stop doing missionary work, it’s what he was born to do. I thought that was pretty cool to share with you. Well I hope all is well. We are having a good time out here in Sacto. My diet officially started today so here we go. Wish me luck. Love you!-- Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Monday, December 19, 2011

December 19th 2011So we are only allowed to write letters on P-day and in the middle of the week I had the urge to write Grandma a letter to tell her how much I love her and stuff but Elder Jones and I committed to God a new level of obedience and I knew I couldn't go back on that so I am waiting till now and now I can write her. Maybe I’ll type it up, have you print it out and give it to her. If she doesn't remember me then oh well, at least she'll know someone loves her. But yeah I'm glad to hear she is hanging on. I really want her to last till I come home. A lot of missionary’s grandparents pass away while they are on their mission but I don't think many of them grew up living with theirs and being in the same ward their whole lives and being as close as we are to our grandmother. It would be like losing a parent, which some have in our mission. But this is God's plan for us. We live to die and we die to live again. We will see her again with all the ones we love. So this week was pretty good. The whole zone is working so hard to receive miracles and blessings from God. We are consistently baptizing each week and have the most people set up to baptize the most in the mission this month. So it is an exciting time to not only be in the Sacramento mission but to be in the North Sac Zone! Monday night we had a good dinner with the Lopez family. They are the family we are working with that have nonmember friends. Their niece who is from Arizona lives with them and is super pretty. After that dinner we went and tried to see a few families the ward asked us to go see but none of them were home. Tuesday was a good day. We had a leadership meeting in the morning with the district leaders and it was fun. We went into the chapel because the room we normally do it in was super cold and dark. It was a good meeting and we talked about some good stuff. We tried to see a lot of people throughout the day but we didn't have much success with that. We tracted a lot which is always good cuz then we get to talk to each other a lot. We had dinner. The member we were supposed to eat with forgot so she just gave us some money and so we went to Taco Bell. Then we went to a meeting with the all the leaders in the stake. It was preparing for the Gladys Knight performance they are having on January 28th and 29th. It’s going to be one of the coolest things ever and all the Negros we talk to are pumped for it. The meeting went longer than we anticipated so we went home afterwards. Oh and on Tuesday I was blessed to get my package! Thank you so much for the medication and all those cookies. They are a hit with the apartment. And I love the date candy and every time I pop one in my mouth then take a sip of the hot cocoa while listening to my boy Michael Buble I think of all the hard work that must go into those dates before making the candy. It is much appreciated and we love the cd. Wednesday was really good. We had a great district meeting. We recommitted the whole zone to obedience and diligence. Everyone is super pumped too for a white Christmas. After lunch we went and visited Joanne a black American recent convert and told her about the Gladys Knight performance. I think she called ten people in the five min. we were there. Then we went and visited a few people. We had a lesson with Justin and Shana and the kids were crazy! They are so rambunctious lately. We went to see some more people then we had dinner with the Kanady family. But the parents weren't home so we just ate with the son who is contemplating going on a mission and his little sister. I think his parents planned it that way so we could talk to him and stuff. Hopefully he will go. We went and visited Roberta and Serenity and said hi to them. They are doing good. Then we went in for the night. Thursday was great. The morning was boring and I wasn't feeling too well. Then we went out and saw some people. It seemed like the day was dragging on for a while. We tracted a lot and that was good. The Elders Quorum president took us with him and his wife on their date night. We went to Logan's! It was good but I didn't get what I normally get because the steak was so dang expensive! After dinner Bro. Call, the eq pres. went with us to teach a girl named Megan Hall. We have been working with her for a bit now and it’s been good but she wasn't getting baptized. So we went in and it was super spiritual but she wasn't opening up then the spirit took over and we were asking and saying all the right things and it was great. She opened up and we resolved all her concerns and she committed to work towards January 12th, the week after I will be transferred. It was awesome. Then we went to Bro. Call's house to help him give his son a blessing cuz he was going into surgery the next day to get a random bump moved from his face. It wasn't a bad bump it was just getting bigger and didn't look so good. Kinda like dads ex-bump. Then we went home. Friday morning we had weekly planning. For lunch we met Elder Jones' recent convert from Lodi at Cold Stone and had ice cream for lunch. How healthy right? Then we went and tracted which seemed like forever! We later saw some people and it was good. We were super late to our dinner because we were talking to this lady forever and she would not shut up but that’s good I guess. We had a great dinner. It was with the family we had dinner with for Thanksgiving. The daughter and son in law live in our ward and they signed up to have us over but the whole family came and it was a good time. After dinner they wanted us to teach them a practice lesson and it was fun. We saw a couple of people then went home. Saturday morning was kind of weird. We were seeing people but it felt like everyone was tired and slow. We had a good lunch with some other elders in our zone. They had just had a baptism so we wanted to celebrate with them. Its great being a zone leader cuz you realize what it really means to have joy in others success. Or maybe that’s just me and Elder Jones. Who knows? We taught a cool guy after lunch. His name is Jon Parkes. He just got out of jail a month ago after being in there for 13 years! A member has been working with him in the prison he was in for the past 2 years and this guy is truly converted to the gospel. He just has to be approved by the first presidency because he is on parole. The member that was working with him said he has written 7 letters to the first presidency to get his people approved and all of them have so we have faith in him for Jon. We then went and taught Justin and Shana again. We are getting ready for their baptism this Wednesday and we are all super excited. Then we just tried to see as many people as we could that have been to church and can get baptized this month. We are two people away from hitting our zone goal and breaking the record and 2 away from the stake goal of 100 for the year. So we are working our butts off so we can see miracles. We had dinner with Joanne. She cooks some good southern cooking but I don't like bbq sauce and she made ribs. If it was a dry rub I would love them but the only bbq sauce I like is uncle Chets. Then we went and saw some more people. At the end of the night we went to visit one of the members because his nonmember girlfriend had come to church and we wanted to teach her. But her dad won't let her. He only let her because the kid was getting ordained a priest and it was a special occasion. So that was a bummer. Sunday was swell. There were two farewells and a homecoming in sacrament meeting. It was PACKED! The stake president son was coming home and another one was leaving and then a Tongan kid was leaving. It was so packed it was crazy. We had lunch after church and then went out to see some people. We had dinner with a family in the area where Elder Jones started his mission. They are in our zone. The husband is a nonmember and was supposed to get baptized a year ago and is now getting baptized on New Year’s Eve. He asked Elder Jones to baptize him. Then we met up with the zone to go caroling. It was a mighty fine time and since we had practiced Hark! The Herald Angles Sing! For the temple day we sang it a lot and people loved it. I might add that we sounded pretty good. Then we set some goals and did numbers and went home. This morning for P Day we played football again. We WON! Again. It was a lot of fun but I fell and hit my head trying to block a pass and now I have a head ache. So that was my week. It was funny. Elder Jones and I were talking and when he was getting transferred we talked on the phone and I told him not much was going on here and it was kind of dead. Now we have had six baptisms while together with another one the week I’ll be leaving! So that was cool to see how many miracles we've seen and how much the Lord is blessing us. I think I have said this a couple of times now but I am having the best time of my mission right now and I love it! Well that is about it. I don't have any idea when I am going to call home. I know it will be close to right after three or at three. Any later and Elder Jones family would be asleep and any sooner and Jackie would still be at church so we will try and do it then. I am so excited to talk to you! Well I love you. Hope all is well.-- Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

December 19th 2011Dear Grandma,I wanted to take a little time and write you a letter. I feel bad because I haven't written you as often as I should have. But I wanted to write you today and take this chance to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you. Ever since a young boy I looked up to you and Grandpa Pete. It was an amazing experience being able to have my Grandparents help raise me. Not many kids get that opportunity. I can remember from a young age always trying to do something that would please you and make you proud of me. I remember the first time I came to help you out with the yard. We cut the big ole bush on the side of your house to nothing. Then I still had the lawn to mow and the other bushes to trim. I remember thinking "Oh boy, what have I got myself into". But as I continued on working on your yard I was able to spend some more time with you and get to know you more. It was great. I got to hear some of your stories and learn some life lessons. It was always a good time. Every gift I have gotten from you I have cherished and loved. From Grandpa's trophy to his war ring, his tie and even just the small notes in my birthday cards. I just want to say how much I love you Grandma. You are one of my Hero’s and I have always looked up to you. When I think of my Grandma I think of someone who has lived her life faithful to the gospel always doing good. I was privileged to grow up so close to you and to be around you so often. You mean so much to me and I love you so much. I hope you get feeling better and I know God has a plan for all of us. Love,Your Grandson, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

December 12th 2011

Well it didn't seem like much happened this week. It’s sad to hear about Grandma. I think she will hang out long enough for me and Elder Skousen to get home. We get home with in like two weeks of each other so hopefully she hangs on. It is so sad to hear about that though. This week was pretty good. Actually it was awesome. I think I’ll tell you a little bit about it. So Monday night we had dinner with the Lopez family. We have been working with them on sharing the gospel with their friends. They have two people they are working with and so they were supposed to invite them over for dinner but they couldn't make it. We had a great time. We have been over there a little bit and they love to film Elder Jones singing and me dancing. They named them Elder Jones singing and the other one Elder Arnett dancing. So you should check em out and see if they are there. I have a pretty good video I recorded of me dancing. I'll send it home soon. Then we went and taught Roberta and Serenity. They are great and accept everything so easy. Tuesday we had a good day. We had leadership in the morning. It was good. After lunch we went out and saw some people. I'm not sure what we did all day. I can't remember. It was a good day I’m sure. Wednesday we had a great district meeting. We practiced singing Angels we have Heard on High. We were asked to sing it at the Mission Temple Trip on Friday. We sound pretty good actually. Oh yeah before I forget. For some reason I keep thinking Ammon, Betsy’s husband, is from St. Johns. There is a missionary in our zone who is from there. His name is Elder Sean Bast. He is a cool guy. So if Ammon is from there what’s his last name? Wednesday was a day as well. We were able to teach some people. I'm sorry the weekend was a lot better than the week so those days got drowned out. Thursday we had to do weekly planning cuz Friday was the Temple trip. We had a good time doing that. Then we went and did some more stuff. Our night was pretty busy. We had so many appointments we actually had to cancel out dinner. It was fun though. We taught Roberta and Serenity and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. They loved it. We were able to teach Justin and Shauna and it was real good as well. An appointment fell through so the member we were with took us to get some Chinese food. It was tasty. We had a good correlation with our awesome Ward Mission Leader. Then we went home and planned and went to sleep. Every morning I write in my journal and as of today I have written in it for a whole month straight! So there is some good stuff in there. We had our Temple Trip at the Sacramento Temple. First there was a mini zone conference with a Christmas program. They showed what we call the White Christmas video. It’s a picture slideshow of a bunch of baptisms over the past year. It was really good. The last two pictures were of two people who were baptized then a short time later passed away. Manat Soutsavang the paralyzed girl was one of them. President asked Elder Seumanutafa his feelings after watching it then he asked me to share my thoughts cuz I was a part of the baptism. It was the first time I really cried since before my mission. Then we had some good lunch. The temple was awesome as it always is! We had a good time though. Afterwards we taught a guy named Tracy. He doesn't believe Jesus is necessary so we moved on of course. We had our ward Christmas Party and Santa came! We got a good picture for our Christmas card. We had a real good time there and it was a lot of fun. We had 4 investigators come so that was fun. Saturday we had 2 baptisms! Roberta Campbell and her Daughter Serenity Douglas were baptized! It was awesome. Boy am I glad I learned how to play three Hymns, because we couldn't get a pianist for the program so I played. I messed up a little bit but that’s ok. Over the past week I have begun learning two more hymns. It’s not that hard if I just practice. Every time we're at the church and we have a minute I practice. So hopefully I can learn a couple more and fine tune the ones I know. The baptism was good though. We had to stay for the next baptism as well because the lady asked Elder Jones to say the opening prayer. People love him. It’s great. Then we went out and worked all day. We taught the Williams family and it was good. The Williams are Justin and Shauna. We tracted for a while. We had to write up a bunch of things for our Stake Correlation meeting with the Stake Presidency we had yesterday. That took some time. Especially cuz the office Elders in our mission aren't as on the ball as they usually are so I had to remake the form for our zone and I’m not great with computers but I’ve figured some things out so it works. We were able to see a few more people the rest of the night. Sunday morning we had a great meeting with the Stake Presidency. They are some cool guys. We are close to hitting the goal for the Stake of 100 baptisms for the year. We need about five more so we'll be close. We have the people to do it and some so we are working our patoots off! We had a good Church. Roberta and Serenity were confirmed and it was good as well. The Lopez daughter brought her friend Ryan to church so hopefully he'll be there tonight for dinner so we can teach him. Justin and Shauna were supposed to get their interview but they weren't at church so we went over to their house with our ward mission leader and he took them to church. We don't take peoples agency away but we give them as little as possible and then make them feel uncomfortable so they have to do what we want. It works almost every time ;]. So yeah that was good. We went tracting some more after church. We had dinner with Bishop Lee, the bishop of our ward. It was a lot of fun. I love his family. They have a little boy named Braden but he isn't anything like my brother. We had a good time with them. Then we had a Christmas Fireside. It was LAME! Seriously I thought it was like make a wish foundation and they let these people perform the day before they die but they all looked too healthy for that to be the case. The last number was pretty cool though. The Tongan ward sang the Hallelujah Chorus in Tongan and it rocked. Then we had a zone meeting afterwards. It went good. People are starting to slack off and it’s frustrating. At the beginning of the month we asked each person what they expected out of us as their zone leaders and we have been doing everything they asked us to but they aren't doing much. So it was rough. But I think everyone is going to be on board now. Today is P Day. We played football earlier. It was fun. We WON! I hate losing. So that was good. Things are going good out here though. I love serving. I have been taking each day by itself and I have never been happier. It’s rough to look ahead too far cuz then you get discouraged or now trunky but if I go day by day and do my best it all goes smooth. Inch by Inch like it goes. So yeah that is what’s going on right now. I hope everyone is having a good time back at home. I will be praying for Grandma. Oh and to answer your question mom, I don't really feel like they are here with me but sometimes I feel like Grandpa Pete is talking to me telling me what I should do. I think about him like every day. I just hope Grandma makes it till I get home. But either way she is a worthy woman who is entitled to the blessings of heaven and will be rewarded. I have learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation and honestly I feel like a mission is the best place to lose a family member because you have the spirit constantly. We'll just face the future with faith. I love you.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

December 5th 2011

I am sorry about the random email times. The computers we usually use are down so we have been trying to find members who will let us use theirs so we found one. I am actually using the people who got baptized a little while ago. They are super solid and haven’t missed a sacrament meeting yet! So this week was rough. We had a lot of zone leader responsibilities to take care of with people being disobedient new missionaries coming and stuff. It was crazy! We had a hard time finding the time to work in our own area. When we did get the time it was quality and well spent. So being on this obedience run has been awesome. We told the zone that we have a goal of 16 baptisms in the zone this month so we can beat the record for the zone. We have a lot of people were working with so we know it is possible. We read a few scriptures about obedience and righteousness and how without it God can't bless us. We then told them that if they are disobedient and if we don't hit our goal then it was because of them. So that has motivated a lot of missionaries to be better. On Wednesday we were able to talk to the elders that decided to go on their Black Friday extravaganza. They all felt real sorry and have all changed a bunch since we have talked to them. They are still scared because President Lewis hasn't said much to them yet. So that was fun. Actually it wasn't. Being a zone leader is fun and all but when you have to be the bad guy its rough but hey it has to be done. After we talked to them in the morning we had to drive up to the mission office to pick up one of the Elders that is Training. It’s funny because he is training his girlfriend’s cousin! There is no way President Lewis knew that when he was assigning trainers. So that was fun. We took him out to Chipotle for his first mission meal. He loved it compared to that nasty mtc food. We were able to get some work in the rest of the afternoon. For dinner we had Potato Casserole! It wasn't even half as good as the one guys make but hey it was familiar. We also had some ham. We had dinner with the whole zone with the stake President, President Treadway. His son just got back from his mission in the Philippines and his other son leaves in a month for Italy. We had a good dinner with him and his family then a nice little visit afterwards. He shared with us some news that makes me bummed that this is probably my last transfer here in North Sac. At the end of January Gladys Knight and her choir are, for the first time ever, returning to a stake she has already performed at. It was so successful to missionary work last time she wants to do it again! I am bummed I will probably miss it. But man is that going to be cool. After dinner we did something that I can't remember then we went home. Thursday we had a good District meeting. Our district leaders are great and we have a lot of good additions to the zone. Everyone seems to be on board with obedience and with the plans we have for the zone. We are super excited. After lunch we did stuff. I don't have my planner so I am going off of memory and since this week was crazy and not normal I don't remember much. I remember what we did actually. We taught 3 lessons at night in a row and they were all amazing. We taught Roberta and Serenity, then we went and taught a girl named Megan Hall. She came to church last week out of the blue and we had a great lesson with her. Our ward mission leader is awesome too! He came to our appointments with us and when we were at Megan's she was telling us about the dilemma she was having. Her Saturday babysitter got a job and now works Saturdays so for the past month the baby sitter has been leaving Megan's 18 month old child, Hector, with her boyfriend and then working at her job so she could get paid twice as much. Megan was not going to stand for that. So she fired her and now she needs a baby sitter. Well Bro. Lopez offered to watch him with his wife. They have three little kids that are all around hectors age so it was cool. So they watched Hector on Saturday then they hung out with Megan for a couple of hours and she came to church again this week! So he and his wife are great. Friday we had Mission Leaders Council. It sounds real important but it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s with all the district and zone leaders in the mission with President and Sister Lewis. We all just get to know each other and announce our goals for the Transfer. We have the highest goal with the most set up to be baptized. We are super excited to have a White Christmas in North Sac! I don't remember what we did the rest of the day. We probably taught somebody or did something. Saturday was crazy as well. We tracted for two hours in the morning, then we had lunch. After lunch we tried to see a few people. The Elders we now live with had gotten their car towed cuz they parked in the wrong spot so we had to drive them outside the mission to meet the car coordinator to go get it. That took a long time and a lot of miles. Then Elder Jones left with a member to go down to Lodi to see his favorite investigator get baptized. I stayed with the Tongan ward elders cuz they were having a baptism for Tina. I taught her a couple of times. The first time I invited her to be baptized she laughed in my face then four months later I watched her get baptized so look who’s laughing now. Actually no one’s really laughing but whatever. After the baptism we went to Tina's house for a Tongan feast. It was really good but then right after I had to meet elder Jones at Roberts for another dinner. It sure was tasty though. Then we went to see some more people before the night was through. Sunday morning was rough. I have two analogies to describe how I felt. First I felt like I went all 6 minutes in a wrestling match with Lucifer. When we got to church none of our investigators were there. Then I felt like I jumped on a roller coaster and neither I nor Elder Jones were wearing a seat belt. It was rough. Finally all five investigators showed up. Roberta and Serenity had gotten in a quarrel with the member they live with and so they went to Roberta’s mom’s house instead of coming to church. Well they had to come to church cuz they are getting baptized on Saturday and they needed their interviews so they finally came for the last hour. So the whole morning was just crazy trying to get people to church and what not. But they all came. Because we have been obedient God is on our side and we can't lose. Our testimony meeting was ridiculous. It went till 10:30 when our church starts at 9:00... One guy said over the pulpit that without Jesus we are all screwed... It was crazy. We had a good dinner with some members after tracting for a little while. Then we enjoyed the great Christmas Devotional by the First Presidency. It really was awesome. We love the Christmas season here in the mission. After the Devotional we had a good zone meeting to set a weekly focus. We committed everyone companionship to have an investigator with a baptismal date by the end of the week. We have four in our ward so things are going great. So that was good. Things have been going real good lately. It was a rough week but it was real good too. Usually I am dying for a Pday but I didn't even think about it. We are just going day by day and working our hardest and being obedient and it’s awesome. My mission has never been better. We are seeing so many miracles and we are always happy. Oh yeah mom I ran out of Claritin and man is it expensive. I bought a 15 pack to get me through but could you send me some more. It doesn't have to be in a big package just send it in a little one, cuz I need it fast. I almost got sick with out. I probably am addicted to the nasal spray. I have to have it, but it works. So yeah things are good. Mom I already told you. Elder Jones can't marry Hayley cuz I love his sister. That would just be weird. So I really don't want to send the Christmas card to that many people. Maybe like 40. I would like to send it to some families in the ward but i don't know who... I want to send it to some old converts in the mission and some of my friends so maybe you could give me the addresses of like 15 families in the ward. The Halms, the Schmids, The Allreds, Reidheads, Packers, Bishop Petremallo, Bishop Hitchcock, Threets, Campbells, Bullochs, Frosts, Thomas family, grandma Ray and Ilene, Wilyerds, Bret Church they liked it last year. So yeah. It shouldn't be too much. I think its like 50 cents a card so maybe like 50 dollars would cover it. Idk. But we are thinking of a good card. Speaking of Christmas. I really miss seeing that big huge tree up in the house. No one I have met here in Sacto has had a tree as big as ours. I was wishing for a unique Christmas gift of a picture, with everyone in the family even Jeff and Candice cuz I only have one picture with them in it all standing in front of the big tree. That would bring lots of old Christmas feelings back of warmth and joy. Well I love you all and I hope everyone is well.

--Love, Elder Tyler Pete Arnett

Dad it was great to read your email today. I loved it. I don't think about everyone in the family every day but I don't think a day has gone by that I haven't thought of my mom and dad and the many things they have taught me. I remembered a quote you told me while mowing the yard one day. I used it in a lesson the other day and it was great. You told me "Inch by Inch life is a Cinch, but Mile by Mile it will take you awhile". It’s true especially in missionary work. Things are amazing here. We are seeing so many miracles. I have been striving so hard to be obedient in every way I can and I feel like since I have been, God has been helping me grow so much. I feel like in the past couple of months my Testimony has grown more than it has at any one time in my mission. Well I love you dad. Thanks for the email.